The Drumhead
'' |image= |series= |production=40274-195 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Jeri Taylor |director=Jonathan Frakes |imdbref=tt0708793 |guests=Bruce French as Sabin Genestra, Spencer Garrett as Simon Tarses, Henry Woronicz as J'Ddan, Earl Billings as Admiral Thomas Henry, Jean Simmons as Admiral Nora Satie, Ann Shea as Nellen Tore |previous_production=Qpid |next_production=Half a Life |episode=TNG S04E21 |airdate=29 April 1991 |previous_release=Qpid |next_release=Half a Life |story_date(s)=Stardate 44769.2 |previous_story=Qpid |next_story=Half a Life }} =Summary= An explosion in the Enterprise's dilithium chamber begins a trail of intrigue that leads Worf to suspect a Klingom exchange officer. Noted investigator Admiral Norah Satie comes out of retirement to help conduct a probe of the incident. The Klingon, J'Dan, admits to smuggling plans to the Romulans, but denies any role in the explosion. Satie's Betazoid aide, Sabin, senses he is telling the truth; the Admiral begins to hunt for co-conspirators. During the investigation Sabin senses that med tech Simon Tarses is lying about some part of his testimony. Even after the explosion is found to have been an accident, Satie bullies Tarses into admitting a forebear was Romulan, not Vulcan as he had once sworn. Picard, uncomfortable with Satie's tactics, meets with Tarses to confirm the man's innocence, and then the captain openly challenges Satie. She vows to bring him down before visiting Starfleet Admiral Henry. Picard's reluctance to participate any further in Satie's hearings leads her to question him as a possible traitor. When Picard uses her famous father's words to rebut her charges, she begins a groundless tirade, accusing him of violating the Prime Directive. Her rage shocks everyone in the room, disgusts Admiral Henry, and breaks up the witch hunt at last. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # Admiral Satie talking about 'nailing' her brothers in a debate, or describing spies as being like 'roaches, scurrting around in the dark.' Some words and phrases retain their original meaning. # Troi not being present during the initial questioning of Tarses. Satie may not have permitted it, as she may not consider Troi independent enough. In addition, Troi is half human, and thus only able to sense emotions. # The court reporter only adding the responses to her PADD. Either the questions are already there, or the computer adds them automatically. Equipment Oddities # Kirk used a computerised lie detector on Scotty in Wolf in the Fold, so why isn't there onein use during Satie's hearings? The admiral may not trust computerised lie detectors to provide accurate responses, especially in light of the tampering Ben Finny attempted in Court Martial. Continuity and Production Problems # Satie's court reporter exiting the upper turbolift on the bridge, and then walking behind Worf and down the starboard ramp, before walking to the port side of Picard's chair to deliver the summons to Picard. Maybe she had order's from Satie to do this, to test the bridge crew's reaction. Nit Central # Aaron Dotter on Friday, March 16, 2001 - 4:18 pm: The Admiral seems surprised that her father's works are required reading at the Academy. Even if they weren't when she was at the Academy, wouldn't she know if they were instituted at some point after that? She didn't expect them to be used against her. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 3:44 am: I fail to see why the Romulans would be interested in the Enterprise's Dilithium chamber. Don't they have their own methods of space travel and hasn't it been pointed out that the Romulans have higher and more efficient standards than Starfleet? ''dotter31 on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 6:44 pm:''7 years is an eternity in the world of intelligence. Even if the Romulans had information on it already, they were interested in knowing if the Federation had updated its technology or that any previous information was not deliberate disinformation. # Isn't this chamber the same one that's been on the Enterprise for at least 7 years and possibly as much as 19 years (depending on whichever references you believe)? The only explanation I can think of is the Romulans were testing the Klingon to see how loyal he would be toward them.. Actually, this chamber was fitted 7 months earlier, during the post Wolf 359 incident. # When Admiral Satie comes on the Enterprise, Picard says something to the effect of her being pivotal in exposing the alien conspiracy 3 years earlier. Which conspiracy? The only one that happened before this episode involved three inch long beetles and she was nowhere to be seen. That's because she was working in the shadows, to ensure the conspiritors wouldn't realise she was investigating them.kerriem. on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 7:24 am: IIRC, the 'conspiracy' Admiral Satie was referring to was supposed to be the one with the three-inch beetles. Remember, the notion of 'something wrong in Starfleet' was hinted at several episodes earlier than 'Conspiracy'. The idea is that while Picard was unravelling things from the bottom up, Satie was investigating from the top down - the setup for her paranoia ''' # Sabin says that Tarses lied on his Starfleet application, then repeated the lie in the hearing. That lie was that his paternal grandfather was Romulan, not Vulcan. Since when do entrance applications need to ask for the race of your grandparents? The medical records might need to list this information, but would Tarses alone be responsible for that? ''Brian Fitzgerald on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 12:16 pm:'' It doesn't have to ask his grandparents' race. It need only ask his race and in order to answer the question he must mention the race of his grandfather 3/4 human 1/4 vulcan. margie on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 12:07 pm: The application may ask if the applicant has ancestors of certain "unfriendly" races.' # ''John A. Lang on Wednesday, September 11, 2002 - 6:55 pm: Why is Satie interrogating Picard about T'Pel? It was STARFLEET'S idea to have her beamed aboard. Kerriem (Kerriem) on Wednesday, September 11, 2002 - 8:03 pm: Agreed that she should be a little more concerned about how 'T'Pel' was able to pull her ruse off for so long...but then again, that's the whole point of the scene, Satie's search for traitors is becoming more and more irrational. :) # John A. Lang on Thursday, October 03, 2002 - 9:00 pm: Eventually, Geordi finds out that the explosion was caused by a design flaw. You'd think that Starfleet would have some kind of Quality Management team to go over their warp cores & all their parts with a microscope to make sure there aren't any cracks of any kind. Perhaps the flaw didn't show up on the inital checks, and only developed after the unit was installed. Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation